2 - The Woman That Lives in the Forest

At the end of the small path, there was a dark, moist, pine forest. They walked through the forest for a very long time. The girl had no shoes, for all her proper appearance, but she didn't even make a sound to complain. Finally, they reached a tall house with an equally tall metal fence around it. This fence was very intimidating, with spikes and barbed tips. The girl had not complained even once during their whole walk, but she became incredibly terrified and started shivering at the sight of the fence. The boy put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"My mother does important research here, so she needs to make sure that nobody can steal it. That's why we live in a forest," he explained.

The girl couldn't understand what he said, but she could make out what he meant. She gave him a tiny smile, but her legs were trembling like a sapling in the wind. So, the little boy took hold of both of her hands and gestured towards her and then the house. The little girl was reluctant, but she nodded gently and they went in. As the little boy led the way in, he didn't see the girl's eyes harden, nor did he realize that she was squeezing his hands very tightly, and blood trickled off the tips of his fingers.

When they entered the tall modern home, with many large one-way windows, a tall woman in a lab coat was already standing there. She greeted them calmly and simply.

"Welcome. You must've been hungry, walking non-stop through such a large forest. Won't you join us for dinner?" She spoke in a raspy voice, using nothing but sounds and tongue clicks.

"Mother, you can communicate with her? Wow, I've never heard that language before," the boy exclaimed.

"Thank you for letting me in. He was really nice to me, so please tell him I said thank you," the girl said softly, using the same group of sounds and tongue clicks.

"She says she's thankful, so I assume you treated her nicely? No need to answer. Let's go for dinner," the tall woman told her son, before taking the hands of both children and leading them deeper into the house.